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University turns downed trees into treasured keepsakes

July 13, 2010

University turns downed trees into treasured keepsakes

University Park, Pa. -- Penn State's ongoing effort to suppress the Dutch Elm and Elm Yellows diseases is seeing success, as many of the trees on the University Park campus remain healthy. However, despite the effort's overall success, some of Penn State's majestic elms have succumbed to disease. The University is preserving the wood from its fallen elms, some of which graced the campus for nearly 100 years, in a new line of furniture and picture frames now available to Penn State alumni.

"One of the things we wanted to do was to find a way of preserving some of the wood in ways that our alumni would appreciate," said Roger Williams, executive director of the Penn State Alumni Association. "So we worked together with the Office of Physical Plant to come up with a solution by which we can take the lumber of elms that have to be destroyed to prevent the further spread of the disease and have it manufactured into a line of fine furniture and frame products."

A portion of the proceeds from the project will go toward the continuing effort to preserve Penn State's existing stand of American Elms, which have been an integral part of the look and feel of the University Park campus for 120 years. To learn more about the collection, visit /video/166176/2013/02/09/video-no-title online. For more information about elm yellows, visit http://elmyellows.psu.edu/ online.

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Penn State's ongoing effort to suppress Dutch Elm and Elm Yellows disease is seeing success, as many of the trees on the University Park campus remain healthy. However, despite the effort's overall success, some of Penn State's majestic elms have succumbed to disease. The University is preserving the wood from its fallen elms, some of which graced the campus for nearly 100 years, in a new line of furniture and picture frames now available to Penn State alumni. (Elms Collection site is at goo.gl online.) Produced by C Roy Parker.